Party: Ufc 223

Party: Ufc 223

A UFC Lightweight Championship bout between current interim champion and The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos welterweight winner Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov is expected to headline this event.The pairing has previously been scheduled and cancelled for various reasons on three separate occasions over the last three years (The Ultimate Fighter: Team McGregor vs. Team Faber Finale, UFC on Fox: Teixeira vs. Evans and UFC 209). Due to the inactivity of former UFC Featherweight Champion and current lightweight champion Conor McGregor, the promotion has indicated that he would be stripped of his title and that the winner of the proposed Ferguson/Nurmagomedov bout would become the undisputed champion. Despite confirming on January 19 that the winner of this bout would become the de facto champion, UFC president Dana White did not confirm if McGregor would be stripped and the status of the Lightweight Championship remains unclear at this point.

A UFC Women's Strawweight Championship bout between the current champion Rose Namajunas and former champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk is expected to serve as the co-headliner for this event.The pairing previously met in November 2017 at UFC 217 with Namajunas winning the title via stoppage in the first round.

A lightweight bout between Al Iaquinta and Paul Felder was originally scheduled for UFC 218. However, Iaquinta pulled out due to undisclosed injury. The bout is now expected to take place at this event.

A flyweight bout between former UFC Flyweight Championship challenger Ray Borg and Brandon Moreno was expected to take place seven weeks earlier at UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Medeiros. However, due to a minor injury sustained by Moreno, the pairing was delayed and rescheduled to take place at this event.